4 ms·

I've slowly come to the realisation that the majority of very smart people are only smart in the field they work in.

by polytely 6y ago

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
numpad0 6y ago
Maybe the majority of well paid people are paid for their behavioral predictability than ingenuities...
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  That's generally the case for everything in our lives, though. Part of what keeps civilization going is minimizing variance / maximizing predictability of people. In modern societies, we try to keep unpredictable people away from anything important. In the most extreme cases, we lock them up in prisons and mental hospitals. In less extreme cases, we gatekeep: for example, you have to go through a psychological evaluation to get your pilot's license, driver's license, to be allowed to own a firearm, or be employed in certain positions. Degree of such gatekeeping is usually proportional to the damage wrong behavior can cause. And then in general, we have laws and cultures and social customs that slowly grind us into shape, every day of our lives, making us ever so slightly more similar to each other with every interaction, so that we can predict each others' behaviors and cooperate effectively. (I bring this up sometimes in context of AI/ML, where I complain that modern ML is made of black boxes with unpredictable failure modes. The usual reply is, "but humans are black boxes too!". Well, they aren't completely opaque - thanks to shared hardware architecture and "theory of mind", and to the degree it's not enough, society ensures predictability is maximized.)
  - teatree 6y ago
    I had never thought about society this way. Thanks for this insight.
  - mlyle 6y ago
    > for example, you have to go through a psychological evaluation to get your pilot's license, driver's license Where? Wasn't required for me to fly or drive... > to be allowed to own a firearm, Not true even of a lot of restrictive jurisdictions. (even the UK). > or be employed in certain positions Sometimes this is true of being e.g. law enforcement or somewhere that requires a security clearance. But not very common.
germinalphrase 6y ago
In the olden days, they called it hubris, and it was a sin against the gods.
dehrmann 6y ago
And often surprisingly below average in everything else.

I've slowly come to the realisation that the majority of very smart people are only smart in the field they work in.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

numpad0 6y ago

Maybe the majority of well paid people are paid for their behavioral predictability than ingenuities...

TeMPOraL 6y ago
That's generally the case for everything in our lives, though. Part of what keeps civilization going is minimizing variance / maximizing predictability of people. In modern societies, we try to keep unpredictable people away from anything important. In the most extreme cases, we lock them up in prisons and mental hospitals. In less extreme cases, we gatekeep: for example, you have to go through a psychological evaluation to get your pilot's license, driver's license, to be allowed to own a firearm, or be employed in certain positions. Degree of such gatekeeping is usually proportional to the damage wrong behavior can cause. And then in general, we have laws and cultures and social customs that slowly grind us into shape, every day of our lives, making us ever so slightly more similar to each other with every interaction, so that we can predict each others' behaviors and cooperate effectively. (I bring this up sometimes in context of AI/ML, where I complain that modern ML is made of black boxes with unpredictable failure modes. The usual reply is, "but humans are black boxes too!". Well, they aren't completely opaque - thanks to shared hardware architecture and "theory of mind", and to the degree it's not enough, society ensures predictability is maximized.)
- teatree 6y ago
  I had never thought about society this way. Thanks for this insight.
- mlyle 6y ago
  > for example, you have to go through a psychological evaluation to get your pilot's license, driver's license Where? Wasn't required for me to fly or drive... > to be allowed to own a firearm, Not true even of a lot of restrictive jurisdictions. (even the UK). > or be employed in certain positions Sometimes this is true of being e.g. law enforcement or somewhere that requires a security clearance. But not very common.

germinalphrase 6y ago

In the olden days, they called it hubris, and it was a sin against the gods.

dehrmann 6y ago

And often surprisingly below average in everything else.